This is the time of day when we in the Men's ward <br />Think 'one more surge of the pain and I give up the fight.' <br />When he who struggles for breath can struggle less strongly: <br />This is the time of day which is worse than night. <br /> <br />A haze of thunder hangs on the hospital rose-beds, <br />A doctors' foursome out of the links is played, <br />Safe in her sitting-room Sister is putting her feet up: <br />This is the time of day when we feel betrayed. <br /> <br />Below the windows, loads of loving relations <br />Rev in the car park, changing gear at the bend, <br />Making for home and a nice big tea and the telly: <br />'Well, we've done what we can. It can't be long till the end.' <br /> <br />This is the time of day when the weight of bedclothes <br />Is harder to bear than a sharp incision of steel. <br />The endless anonymous croak of a cheap transistor <br />Intensifies the lonely terror I feel.<br /><br />John Betjeman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/five-o-clock-shadow/
